

N • 


• ^ 


5. 

Il 


• ^ » 


1 


ft MEADE 

GcnCo 1 1 


•'IVf '*^V 


:.. i-: > . li'u / ■ : ■1^.- t^r 

....^, % .■■■••;;■■ :;:.V.- 

^ 4 . r * • ‘ 

. . * - ’ . ; .'X 

• « • '•. ...•« »A« .««• 


\ !• 


XTiM. . ./\ U ) V .|J.{ 


--■ vi\- 


\-K« 




. . A*.* <• 

ft*' 

•• V i-» 5 




i:V; 

i. ■ ' \ V : J ^ ;;‘i- 


.t. 


^ .1 


•i; , 


i« »«v*» 










afenu 


I 



# 


. • I 


A 







1 



s 




















« 






I 








. r 


» 












• » < 







$ 


I ^ 


• ■« 





f 


4 


4 



-t 


THE GOLD PIECE. 



CHRISTMAS EVE, 

AND 


OTHER STORIES. 


TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, 

BY CHARLES A. DANA. 

>v 


BOSTON; 

CROSBY & NICHOLS. 
• 1 8 5 2 . 






4 


• - 

t 


% 






* 


V- 




0 - 



^fA '■ 


% • » 



•A 




■/ 


-i 


t 


4 


> 



X/^ 3 


*4 

i> «i 

oOV 
C ^•j 

V 

‘ . vv 1 

in 

A' V 

• 

A 

i* 


« ’ 

• 

>• 



STORIES. 


CHEISTMAS EVE. 

VENING had come over 
the earth, the sacred eve 
of Christmas, and a .poor 
woman was sitting with 
her two children in a little 
room of a small house in the suburbs. 
The father of the children had died after 
having been ill for a long time, during 
which he had earned nothing, so that 
he had left his family in extreme poverty. 

( 5 ) 



6 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


The mother too was unable to earn any 
thing, for she had to stay with the 
youngest child and nurse it, and take 
care of it, because it was ill all the time. 
Now the poor mother was sitting crying 
to herself, for she had no wood to warm 
the room, and on that day when all 
others were rejoicing and parents every 
where were lighting up Christmas trees* 

* For the information of my little readers I will say that in 
Germany, Christmas Eve is a great festival in every family, 
especially for the children. For them the parents prepare a 
Christmas Tree, generally a young pine, which is hung all over 
with gilt apples and nuts, strings of raisins and almonds, and 
choice confectionary, all of which glitter beautifully in the light 
of very many small colored wax tapers, which are placed among 
the dark twigs of the pine, while at its foot the children find 
their presents. They take great pleasure in gathering around 
the tree, admiring its beauty and dancing in their joy. As long 
as the tapers are burning in all their glory, and the gilt apples 
and sugar toys are glittering they hardlv look at their beautiful 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


7 


for their children, she had to sit in the 
darkness, because the last drop of oil in 
the lamp was burned up. When the 
elder boy heard his mother sobbing, he 
threw his arms around her neck and 
said: “ Oh, mother, if we only had a 
light ! If I could only see you ! I be- 
lieve I should not be so cold, and you 
would not cry so any more if you could 
see us.^^ At this the poor woman almost 
broke her heart with grief ; then she put 
her hand in her pocket and said: ^^Go, 
my child, and get some oil ; here is my 
last penny, I meant to have bought 
bread with it to-morrow, but who knows 

presents. Of course they take great pains to please their 
parents all the year round, lest they should lose the benefit of 
a fine Christmas Tree, for only good children have a Christmas 
Tree. 


8 


CmilSTMAS EVE. 


but the holy Christ may give us bread 
in some other way.” The boy took the 
money and ran to get some oil, and as 
he went he looked to the right and left 
to see if there were any where a window 
illuminated with the lights of a Christ- 
mas tree. But only poor people lived 
in that street, and most of the houses 
were dark ; but here and there a faint 
oil lamp shone through a small and dim 
window pane. 

The boy w^ent farther and farther till 
he reached the broad street full of stores, 
all lighted up with splendor. In the tall 
houses there lived rich, families, and at 
the large windows Christmas trees were 
shining brilliantly. Finally he came to 
the market-place where booth stood next 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


9 


to booth, and he could not enough won- 
der at all the magnificent things exposed 
for sale, the sweetmeats, the painteS 
toys, and the brilliant Christmas trees. 
He went about here and there, looked at 
one thing after another, and was so 
happy that he did not feel that his hands 
and feet were growing numb with cold. 
At last he came to a booth which was 
lighted up more finely than any of the 
others, and a great many people were 
crowded together before it ; as he looked 
in, he forgot every thing else, for there 
he saw all that his mother had told him 
so often about the holy Christ wrought 
finely and beautifully in wax. The Vir- 
gin Mary was sitting in a stable holding 
the infant Christ on her lap ; and before 


10 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


her the shepherds were kneeling, wor- 
shipping the holy child, and all around 
were cows and sheep, and above the 
child were waxen angels with silver 
wings. The boy had never seen any 
thing so beautiful, and I don’t know how 
long he would have stood gazing at it if 
a crowd of new comers had not pushed 
him aside. Then he suddenly remem- 
bered that his mother was sitting in the 
dark at home with his little sister, and 
that he had come out to get some oil. 
But how he was frightened when he felt 
that the penny had fallen out of his be- 
numbed hand. He began to weep aloud, 
but though the crowd around him were 
constantly going into the booth to buy 
things, and carrying the beautiful arti- 


CHKISTMAS EVE. 


11 


cles they had bought past him as they 
went out, no one asked what was the 
matter, and he remained unnoticed in 
his grief. Then he went slowly back 
through the lighted street, but now he 
looked neither to the right nor the left, 
for he no longer took pleasure in any 
thing. At last he came into the dark 
street where his mother lived. And as 
he thought how sad his mother would 
be about the lost penny, he could not 
make up his mind to go home, but sat 
down on a great stone and wept bit- 
terly. 

“ Ah,” thought he, “ the Christ Child 
to-day brings gladness to all, and only 
leaves mother and me more unhappy 
than ever.” So he sat a great while till 


12 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


at last lie heard the watchman on the 
corner calling the hour; he came down 
the street with his lantern and sung : 

“ In the sacred, silent night, 

Christ, the Lord, came down from Heaven ; 

Peace to us he brought, and joy 
To every pious soul hath given.” 

Then, by the light of the lantern, the 
boy saw something shining on the snow 
before him, and picked it up to play with. 
But the watchman came up and asked 
why he sat there in the street in the 
dark and cold and did not go home. In 
tears the child told how he had lost his 
mother’s last penny, with which he had 
gone to get oil ; how his mother had wept 
all the time since his father had died, 
and how he could not bear to see her 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


13 


grieve for her last penny. “Well, come 
with me,^^ said the kindly watchman, “ I 
will give you some oil, and then you must 
run home quickly, for your mother will be 
troubled about you. And as he took the 
child by the hand he felt something hard 
and asked what it was. The child showed 
him the shining thing he had just found 
in the snow. “ There, said the watch- 
man, “see what the holy Christ has sent 
you ! That is a gold piece ; for a gold 
piece you can get more than a handful 
of pennies. Now your mother can buy 
bread and wood to-morrow.” At this 
the boy was full of delight, and after he 
had got the oil of the watchman he ran 
home to his mother and told her every 
thing that had happened, how he had 


14 


CHRISTMAS EVE. 


lost the penny and found the gold iiiece. 
Then the mother wept but it was for joy, 
and she took her children on her lap and 
taught them to thank the holy Christ 
child because he had remembered their 
poverty and made them so rich. 





THE COCKEEEL AND THE HENS. 


HEEE was once a great farm- 
yard, in which there lived a 
splendid looking cockerel with 
his wives, a whole pack of hens, 
black and white, grey and brown, both 

( 15 ) 



IG THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 

with and without crests. They all lived 
in great peace and harmony, for every 
thing went well with them, and every; 
day they got a large pile of barley corns 
for their food. Only one thing troubled 
them, that their eggs were always taken 
away and they many times could bring up 
a brood of chickens. The hens had often 
hid their nests, sometimes in the wood- 
shed, sometimes in the barn, so that the 
eggs might not be found, and once they 
had saved up a mountain of eggs. But 
the girl who fed them found their egg 
mountain and carried it to the city and 
sold it. 

Indeed it was no more than natural 
that the eggs should be found, for as 
soon as a hen laid one, she set up such 


THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 17 

a noisy cackling that it was heard in the 
farthest corner of the farm-yard, and all 
the hens came running together to look 
at the wonder. Some boasted how white 
it was, others praised its beautiful shape, 
and others ' disputed whether it would 
hatch a pullet or a cockerel. About this 
the hens very often fell into a quarrel, 
so that at last there was such a chatter- 
ing, that all the servant-maid had to do 
was to go where the noise was in order 
to be sure of finding the eggs. 

The old cockerel was troubled at the 
loss of the eggs quite as much as the 
hens, if not more. One day after he had 
been walking up and down thinking, in 
a corner of the farm-yard, he flew upon 
the edge of the watering trough, shut his 
2 


18 THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 

eyes, and crowed a loud and piercing 
“cock-a-doodle-doo.” So at this well- 
known call, the hens came rushing and 
tumbling from all sides and formed a 
clucking assembly around the cockerel. 
Then, although he was much agitated 
and troubled in his mind, he made a very 
strong speech to the meeting, and told 
the hens that he knew perfectly well how 
often they had to mourn over the loss of 
their eggs, and that after long reflection 
he could think of no better advice than 
to leave the farm-yard and go off into the 
woods. If they were willing to do this 
they should get up early the next day. 
A loud clucking announced their assent 
to this proposition, and all of them went 
rather earlier than usual to roost, so tliat 


THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 19 

they might get a good sleep before start- 
ing. The next morning the cockerel 
waked up his wives with a sort of low 
crowing, and they started in perfect 
silence out of the farm-yard. But as the 
last of the hens left the yard, he flew 
upon the gate and crowed an exulting 
“ Cock-a-doodle-doo,” and then all went 
on further and further till they got into 
the woods. There they made a great 
nest in a thicket for their eggs, and at 
night [they roosted on the trees. For a 
while they got on pretty well, only the 
hens cackled so loud when they laid their 
eggs that once the fox heard it, and came 
stealthily up at night and carried off a 
white brood hen from her nest and 
smashed the eggs. For the old cockerel 


20 THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 

this was a great affliction, and after it 
the hens went about looking quite down- 
hearted. And when the autumn wind 
shook the leaves from the trees, and the 
hens often had to scratch all day without 
finding a kernel of any thing to eat, they 
went to the cockerel and begged him to 
lead them back to the farm-yard. There 
they said it was true their eggs were 
taken away from them, but they had a 
warm roost and good food ; here in the 
woods the fox broke their eggs and ate 
up themselves into the bargain. 

The cockerel, who had himself privately 
begun to long for the heap of barley corns, 
agreed at once to go back, but advised 
the hens for the future to leave off cack- 
ling so as not always to betray where 


) THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS. 21 

the eggs were. But they were not dis- 
posed to be advised by him. They said 
that when they cackled they did it be- 
cause they knew they had done a good 
thing ; but that he often set up his nose 
without any reason ; at least npne of 
them had ever seen that he had laid an 
egg, and so he had nothing to say about 
the matter. Then the Cockerel was 
ashamed and held his tongue and led his 
family back to the farm-yard where they 
fell upon the heap of barley corns with a 
very keen appetite. There they live to 
this very day, and have the same sort of 
food, the same cackling and the same 
trouble. 


THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 



MAN once lived with his Avife 
and child, happy and contented, 
for they loved each other, and 
God had given them every 
thing good and necessary. In the morn- 
ing the man went out to work and the 
child remained with her mother at home 
and played, and her mother told her 
pretty stories, such as she liked to heai', 
and caressed her tenderly; or else she 
went with her into the garden, and the 
child gathered and ate the sweet straw- 
berries and the finely flavored raspber- 
ries. And when the father came home 
( 22 ) 









THE CHILD AND HER SICK MOTHER, 



THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 25 

at night they were all three happy be- 
cause they were together. In this way 
they lived for some time till at last the 
mother became feeble and ill and had to 
go to bed. Then the father went sorrow- 
fully to work in the morning, and was 
more sorrowful at evening when he saw 
that the sufferer grew no better. But 
the child remained with her mother, and 
when she was told that she might go 
alone to the garden she had no wish to 
go, but would hide her face on her mo- 
ther’s bed and weep. At last the mother 
Mt that she must die, and called the 
child to her and said : ‘‘I shall soon go 
away from you, for our dear Father in 
Heaven is calling me to himself; but if 
you are good and kind I will come some 


26 THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 

times to see you, my darling, and if it is 
God’s will take you where I am in 
Heaven.” Soon after the mother died 
and was buried in the garden, and the 
father was very unhappy and shed tears. 
The child was unhappy too, and would 
like to have gone to heaven with her 
mother, but as she hoped her mother 
would come to see her or take her to her- 
self, she was soon consoled again. But 
her father was sorry for the child, because 
she would have to be alone while he went 
away to work, and so he married another 
wife to be the mother of the child. But 
she was a bad woman and did not love 
the child and did not speak to her, nor 
even look kindly at her. She took no 
care of the child, nor did she wash her 


THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 27 

clothes nor mend them, and when she 
went to bed at night the new mother did 
not arrange her little bed for her. This 
made the child unhappy, and very often 
she went into the garden and sat down 
on her mother’s grave, and said: “Ah, 
dear mother in Heaven, come and take 
me away.” But ivhen the bad woman 
saw the child sitting on the grave, she 
was angry and drove her away, for she 
could not bear that the child should 
think of the departed one, and she saw 
plainly that she had no love for her se- 
cond mother. And when she saw the 
child eating strawberries and raspberries 
as she had been accustomed to do when 
her own mother was living, she beat her 
severely, for she would not let the child 


28 THE HEAIt MOTHEK IN HEAVEN. 

have the berries, but wanted to eat them 
all herself. At last she became so bad 
to the child that she would not let her 
go into the garden at all, and when she 
went there herself she fastened the child 
up in a dark room. Then the child 
would break into loud lamentations and 
weep for she was afraid in the darkness. 
“ Oh, mother, in Heaven,” she said once, 
when she was shut up there, “ Oh, come 
and take me away.” Then a bright 
light came into the dark chamber, and 
her mother, in white robes beautiful and 
loving, just as she had been in life, only 
much more beautiful, took the child on 
her knee and kissed her and caressed her 
and told her stories just as she had used 
to do. But now they were stories of 


THE MOTHER APPEARING TO THE CHILD. 












.. r 






itf'i] 


i - 


[pftJL 


Ik ' ■ 


tv ' ^ ffTOTf " . '5V’"' r ' Jf 


1 _ 


>V^. 






v-.^ 


**.J * 


L-fS. 


W ‘ 




tf 








4 


23 




: t. I * 


■Ji 


I*'* 


i-* • 






i!S 






< .’ ' 


& 


..r 






•* ’4 


Wx 


to: 


-?. 


>*V' 


f: 






■■<J 


m 


Mi 


S/ii 


/V! 


'ri:^ 


'■o: 








4Vak^ 










h-' 


^-r 








V't- 




''J? 






^-T-- 


W 


y: 


m‘ii 


<>w' 






:iT 


f- 


■1 


/.Tl 




It. 


!?• >• 








r>. 






:.K\ 






THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 31 

Heaven, about the eternal gardens of 
paradise, where imperishable flowers 
bloom and floui’ish, where heavenly sweet 
fruits ripen, where the angel-children 
play joyous plays and dance the celestial 
dances, and sing their hymns before the 
throne of God our father. The child was 
happy to hear this, and became still and 
quiet and finally went to sleep. When 
the bad woman came from the garden 
and went into the chamber to fetch the 
child, she found her pale and asleep in 
one corner, and woke her up with hard 
and unkind words. 

At evening the child told her father 
how her mother in heaven had been to 
see her, and what she had said to her. 
At this the father was thoughtful, and 


32 THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 

though he told the child it was only a 
dream, it made him heavy hearted, for 
he loved his first wife much more than 
the second, and hnew that the latter was 
not a good mother to his child. But as 
he did not know how bad she was, he 
was silent and said nothing about it. 
After that, whenever the child was shut 
up in the dark chamber, she was calm 
and quiet, for she did not stay long alone 
in the darkness. Her mother in Heaven 
came to see her with a soft, clear light, 
and comforted her and told her about 
Heaven and the Angels. Then the child 
grew more and more full of longing for 
the heavenly delights and begging her 
mother at every visit to take her with 
her, but the mother always said it was 


THE DEAR MOTHER IN HEAVEN. 33 

not time yet and she must wait. And 
as the child grew paler and more silent, 
and often looked out of the window to- 
wards Heaven with folded hands, the bad 
woman was more unkind and hard to her 
and fastened her up oftener in the dark 
chamber. Once when she shut her up 
there and went to bring her out again 
from the darkness, the child looked much 
paler than usual, and when she called 
her, did not stir. Then she saw that 
she was dead. The mother in heaven 
had been with her and rocked her to 
sleep, and promised her that she should 
wake up in Heaven. And there the child 
has a robe of light like the angel-children 
with whom she plays in the gardens of 
God. 


3 


THE HOESE’S FOOTPRINT. 



<sy;^3^N the dark Hartz mountains, 
just where the little stream 
called the Bode flows between 
the high hills, there stands a 
lofty and steep rock whose 
base is wet by the waters of 
the stream. This rock is 
called the Horse’s Footprint, and its sum- 
mit is covered with the most beautiful, 
great trees, such as oaks, beeches, and 
birches. On this rock there stood once, 
many hundred, hundred years ago, a 
splendid royal castle. In this castle 
there dwelt a king with his only daughter, 
( 34 ) 


THE horse’s footprint. 35 

tlie beautiful princess Pimpinella. The 
princess had many suitors, for she was 
known far and wide as the most lovely 
of king’s daughters, but she rejected all 
these aspirants for her favor, because she 
was in love with a shepherd who daily 
led his flocks down the hill by the castle. 
Among the suitors of the princess there 
was a great giant, a cruel magician with 
a most horrible fright in his looks, and 
of him the princess lived in constant fear, 
for she would not have him for a husband, 
and he had become very angry, and 
threatened her with the most terrible re- 
venge if she should have any body else. 
But the princess persisted in her refusal, 
and so it happened, when she had wan- 
dered too far beyond the limits of the 


THE horse’s footprint. 


3P) 

domain belonging to the castle, in search 
of flowers, the wicked giant was lying 
in wait for her, and took her on his arm, 
and in spite of her cries for help, carried 
her violently down the mountain and 
stepped with her over the stream and 
carried her up the steep rocky shore on 
the other side where his strong castle 
was situated. There he kept the poor 
princess in close confinement through a 
whole long winter, and watched her day 
and night. But the shepherd, who had 
seen from a distance how the giant car- 
ried olf the princess, was too weak to go 
to her assistance, but determined to see 
if he could set her free by stratagem. 
At last by spring he had contrived a way 
to do it. He tapped the young birch 


THE horse’s footprint. 37 

trees, and from the sap which ran out of 
them he prepared a strong, sweet, intoxi- 
cating drink. With this he started for 
the castle of the giant. He found the 
monster lying before the gate of the 
tower, which led to the place where the 
princess was imprisoned, stretched out 
in the sun to warm himself. The shep- 
herd offered him the drink; the giant 
thought it was excellent, and kept ask’- 
ing for more and more till at last he lost 
his senses and fell asleep. The shepherd 
made use of the moment to open the gate 
and lead the princess from the tower. 
In haste and silence they led the giant’s 
horse from the stable and mounting it 
rode swiftly away. They soon came to 
the precipice, beneath which they saw 


38 THE horse’s footprint. 

the Bode flowing, and on the opposite 
side the royal castle glittering in the sun- 
shine. Then they thought they were 
safe, and dismounted from the horse, 
and began to dance for joy. But unfor- 
tunately the giant had been awakened 
by the hoofstrokes of the horse, which 
had echoed among the mountains like 
thunder, and was hastening after the fu- 
gitives. His long arm reached the 
clouds and rolled them together into a 
threatening storm, and his voice roared 
the most fearful threats against the ter- 
rified pair. What could they do in this 
extremity ? Behind them was the pur- 
suer, the cruel giant; before them the 
precipice and the foaming stream. But 
the princess was determined not again 



%> 



ESCAPE OF THE PRINCESS. 



THE horse’s footprint. 


41 


to fall into tlie hands of the monster ; 
she leaped once more upon the giant’s 
horse, and the shepherd with her, and 
they urged him to a mighty spring so 
that he bore them safely across to the 
rocks on the other side. But at the 
moment when they were hanging over 
the abyss the princess was shaken on the 
horse and the golden crown fell into the 
water which rose up hissing to receive 
it. Then the royal castle on the rock 
instantly disappeared with a loud noise. 

The princess and the shepherd were 
saved, but with the royal crown the 
castle had vanished and the kingdom was 
lost. The giant knew this and laughed 
scornfully on the opposite rock, so that 
the mountain quaked with the sound. 


42 THE horse's footprint. 

After this Pimpinella married the shep- 
herd, and became a poor but happy shep- 
herdess, and for a long time fed her flocks 
with him in contentment on the Hartz 
mountains. The giant changed himself 
into a great black dog, and kept watch 
beside the stream so that no one should 
attempt to recover the crown from the 
water. For whoever should draw the 
crown from the water was to be king, 
and the sunken royal castle would build 
itself up again on the cliffs. Many were 
attracted by this, and came and tried to 
get the crown, but they Ashed up nothing 
but shining golden trout, and when any 
one went there to try it at night, he was 
so fiercely set upon by the black dog, 
that he had to run away as quickly as 


THE horse's footprint. 43 

possible. Thus the king's crown lies 
there to this day in the water, and when 
the sun stands over the valley, or the 
full moon shines at night, it can be seen, 
gleaming, sparkling, and glowing in the 
stream, and some travellers, who have 
gone over the mountains in the night, 
declare that they have seen it as the 
water spirits were playing with it among 
the waves. For my part I cannot say 
whether this is really so or not, but it is 
certainly true, that whenever a youth or 
maiden shall come with a heart as pure 
as the waters of the Bode, and fish for 
the crown with joyous faith and humble 
heart, the dog will have no power over 
him, and the water spirits will cast the 
crown into his net, and he will be king, 


44 


THE HORSE S FOOTPRINT. 


and a glorious and happy time will begin 
for the poor dwellers in the dark Hartz 
mountains. 

And if any one doubts this story, let 
him .only go to the valley on the Bode, 
and climb to the place of the horse’s 
leap and see the immense footprint which 
his mighty hoof made in the solid rock, 
and then look down into the stream and 
see how something glitters and shines in 
its waves. 



THE INDIAN GIEL AND THE CROC- 
ODILE. 


HE back of the crocodile is 
covered with hard scales, but 
its eyes and the skin of its 
throat are very tender, and 
the knowledge of this has saved the 
lives of many poor Indians and negroes. 
I will tell you how a young Indian girl 

(45) 



46 


THE CKOCODILE. 


escaped from the jaws of a crocodile, by 
her courage and presence of mind. When 
she was seized by the monster, there was 
no one within reach to assist her ; she 
was dreadfully hurt too, yet in the midst 
of her pain and alarm, she remembered 
what she had often been told, and tried 
to find the eyes of the crocodile ; she put 
her fingers into them with such violence, 
that the pain obliged it to let her loose. 
It had bitten off part of her arm, but 
the poor girl contrived to reach the 
shore in safety, by swimming with the 
hand she still had left. 

There are several ways of taking the 
crocodile. In some places they are 
hunted with dogs, which are trained for 
the purpose, and armed with spiked col- 


THE CROCODILE. 


47 


lars. In the island of Java, they are 
sometimes caught with a hook fastened 
to a cord made of loosely twisted cotton. 
This sort of line is used by the Javanese, 
because, as soon as the crocodile has 
swallowed the hook, he tries to bite 
asunder the cord, and his teeth, instead 
of dividing the loose cotton rope, only 
pass between its fibres, and all the cap- 
tive’s attempts to bite it through are in 
vain. When once secured in this man- 
ner, he may be safely attacked and de- 
stroyed. 

The natives of Siam take them in nets, 
by placing three or four across a river, 
so that if the crocodile should break 
through the first, he may be caught in 
one of the others. When he feels him- 


48 


THE CROCODILE. 


self fastened, he begins to lash the water 
with his enormous tail ; the natives wait 
patiently till he is quite spent with his 
struggles, and then come up in boats, 
and kill him by piercing the tender parts 
of his body with spears. 

We are told that a negro will some- 
times venture to go into the water and 
attack a crocodile, armed only with a 
knife. He wraps his left hand and arm 
around with thick leather, and takes the 
knife in his right hand. As soon as the 
animal approaches him, he puts out his 
left arm, which it directly seizes in its 
mouth, but its sharp teeth do not bite 
through the tough leather covering, and 
the negro kills it, by stabbing it in the 
throat, where the skin is very tendei*. 



4 


•* 











fl 



V 



UBRARY OF CONGRESS 



□0050561773 


